Yippee. It’s our 11th anniversary. Eleven years since Anu and I got together. Guess where we celebrated it? …In the bushes, camping overnight with the kids!
It’s a long story. At the end of the day, we were exhausted and covered in dust, but we thoroughly enjoyed it. Pictures of this however will have to wait. (What? When have you seen me posting right after a trip? Haven’t even had time to catch up on sleep, let alone download photos from the phone, camera).
Meanwhile, here’re some unexpected temple wedding photos taken during our 2013 trip to Colombo, Sri Lanka. Colombo would’ve been a lot less interesting had we not bumped into these weddings. (Two weddings, in the same day!) See for yourself!
A wedding in progress, Gangaramaya Temple, Colombo, Sri Lanka
No, we don’t know the couple. We’re just gate crashers. Too bad they didn’t give out door gifts. Then we’d have some cool Sri Lankan wedding souvenirs haha!
Gangaramaya Temple (but I could swear that our driver called it simply Gangarama) is a Sri Lankan Buddhist temple filled with odd stuff from all over the Buddhist world, such as Chinese deities like Guan Yin (the Goddess of Mercy) and Guan Yu, and Tibetan Bodhisattvas embraced in sex. (Yeah, you heard right! The Yab-Yum pose showing deities embraced in sex is common in Tibetan temples!) The architecture is a mix of Sri Lankan, Indian, Thai and Chinese (according to Wikipedia), but I see features of Burmese and Indonesian architecture as well (but what do I know?). It reminds me of the Buddhist temples back home in Malaysia! (For example, the Kek Lok Si Temple in Penang!)
Another wedding! In Gangaramaya Park, near the Gangaramaya Temple. Behind the trees, you can see glimpses of a fabulous little Buddhist shrine in the lake called the Seema Malaka. Unfortunately, all our photos of Seema Malaka came out overexposed, …thanks to yours truly, who was fidgeting with the camera settings right before, and forgot to set it back!
A humongous Bodhi tree in the Gangarama Temple – Buddhists are obsessed with Bodhi trees because Lord Buddha gained enlightenment meditating under a Bodhi tree. Now Bodhi tree temples are all over the Buddhist world as in Bodhgaya, India (where Buddha gained enlightenment) and Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka
Copied straight out of the stupas of Borobudur, Indonesia!
This temple is as much a museum as it is a temple, look at the vintage cars! On the right is Guan Yu, a historical Chinese general, who was later (many years after his death), worshipped as a deity till today
3 year old Justin inspecting the “babies” on the temple wall
An elephant and its mahout in the temple compound – how can posts on Sri Lanka not feature elephants?!
The inner sanctum, Gangaramaya Temple, Colombo
And here’s a view of Colombo that’s not in the vicinity of the Gangarama Temple – It’s taken from the road in front of Colombo’s World Trade Centre
Ayubowan!
It’s a long story. At the end of the day, we were exhausted and covered in dust, but we thoroughly enjoyed it. Pictures of this however will have to wait. (What? When have you seen me posting right after a trip? Haven’t even had time to catch up on sleep, let alone download photos from the phone, camera).
Meanwhile, here’re some unexpected temple wedding photos taken during our 2013 trip to Colombo, Sri Lanka. Colombo would’ve been a lot less interesting had we not bumped into these weddings. (Two weddings, in the same day!) See for yourself!
A wedding in progress, Gangaramaya Temple, Colombo, Sri Lanka
No, we don’t know the couple. We’re just gate crashers. Too bad they didn’t give out door gifts. Then we’d have some cool Sri Lankan wedding souvenirs haha!
Gangaramaya Temple (but I could swear that our driver called it simply Gangarama) is a Sri Lankan Buddhist temple filled with odd stuff from all over the Buddhist world, such as Chinese deities like Guan Yin (the Goddess of Mercy) and Guan Yu, and Tibetan Bodhisattvas embraced in sex. (Yeah, you heard right! The Yab-Yum pose showing deities embraced in sex is common in Tibetan temples!) The architecture is a mix of Sri Lankan, Indian, Thai and Chinese (according to Wikipedia), but I see features of Burmese and Indonesian architecture as well (but what do I know?). It reminds me of the Buddhist temples back home in Malaysia! (For example, the Kek Lok Si Temple in Penang!)
Another wedding! In Gangaramaya Park, near the Gangaramaya Temple. Behind the trees, you can see glimpses of a fabulous little Buddhist shrine in the lake called the Seema Malaka. Unfortunately, all our photos of Seema Malaka came out overexposed, …thanks to yours truly, who was fidgeting with the camera settings right before, and forgot to set it back!
A humongous Bodhi tree in the Gangarama Temple – Buddhists are obsessed with Bodhi trees because Lord Buddha gained enlightenment meditating under a Bodhi tree. Now Bodhi tree temples are all over the Buddhist world as in Bodhgaya, India (where Buddha gained enlightenment) and Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka
Copied straight out of the stupas of Borobudur, Indonesia!
This temple is as much a museum as it is a temple, look at the vintage cars! On the right is Guan Yu, a historical Chinese general, who was later (many years after his death), worshipped as a deity till today
3 year old Justin inspecting the “babies” on the temple wall
An elephant and its mahout in the temple compound – how can posts on Sri Lanka not feature elephants?!
The inner sanctum, Gangaramaya Temple, Colombo
And here’s a view of Colombo that’s not in the vicinity of the Gangarama Temple – It’s taken from the road in front of Colombo’s World Trade Centre
Ayubowan!
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